Harvey Milk Ship Naming Ceremony To Take Place Next Week

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and House
Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi are among the dignitaries expected to
attend next week's historic ship naming ceremony in honor of Harvey
Milk.

The Harvey Milk Foundation announced
Wednesday that the ceremony will take place Tuesday at Treasure
Island in the San Francisco Bay Area.

U.S. Naval Institute News
reported earlier this month that Mabus will name a fleet oiler the
USNS Harvey Milk.

Milk, who served aboard a submarine
rescue ship during the Korean War, was the first openly gay elected
official of a major U.S. city. He won a seat on the San Francisco
Board of Supervisors in 1977 on a pledge to back gay and lesbian
rights. He was murdered by a disgruntled former supervisor the
following year.

“Uncle Harvey knew that our
individual actions of open authenticity would be the key to changing
the lives of LGBT people everywhere,” Stuart Milk, Milk's nephew
and co-founder of the Harvey Milk Foundation, said in a press
release. “And it was his belief in the power of that visibility
which gave him the courage to face those bullets that he both
anticipated and would ultimately take his life. As a proud Navy
veteran, Uncle Harvey was committed to public service, aided by
courage, persistence, and the belief that our shared journey is
enriched, and not weakened, by our diversity.”

Also expected to attend the ceremony
are Mayors Edwin M. Lee of San Francisco and Kevin Faulconer of San
Diego. The San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus will perform at the
ceremony. The chorus also performed at the San Francisco unveiling
of the Milk stamp in 2014.